ITALY’S UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

ITALY’S UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) “encourages the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage sites around the World considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.”

The World Heritage List was initially established by the International Treaty of 1972: “The Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.” The Treaty generated international cooperation and participation. The goal was to safeguard the sites with resources from UNESCO and local governments through rigorous management and reporting procedures.

UNESCO’S Selection Criteria (www.unesco.org)

to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;
to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

The protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations.

Since 1992 significant interactions between people and the natural environment have been recognized as cultural landscapes.

Italy is loaded with these cultural global gems. Europe and North America have 49% of the 890 sites. In 2009, Italy had 44 inscribed properties, more than any other country in the world!

World Heritage List

Year	twitterfeedName of the property		Region
1997	18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex		Campania
2003	Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy		Piedmont & Lombardy
1998	Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia		Friuli
1997	Archaeological Area of Agrigento		Sicily
1997	Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata		Naples
2000	Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites		Assisi
1997	Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico), Padua		Padua
1996		Castel del Monte	Bari
1997		Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande, Modena	Modena
1980		Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci	Milan
1998		Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula	Salerno
2000		City of Verona	Verona
1994		City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto	Vicenza
1997		Costiera Amalfitana	Amalfi Coast
1995		Crespi d'Adda	Capriate San Gervasio in Lombardy
1996		Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna	Ravenna
2004		Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia	Lazio
1995		Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta ¹	Ferrara
2006		Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli	Genoa
1982		Historic Centre of Florence	Florence
1995		Historic Centre of Naples	Naples
1980		Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura * ²	Rome & Vatican City
1990		Historic Centre of San Gimignano	San Gimignano
1995		Historic Centre of Siena	Siena in Tuscany
1996		Historic Centre of the City of Pienza	Pienza in Tuscany
1998		Historic Centre of Urbino	Urbino in Le Marche
2000		Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands)	Sicily
2002		Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily)	Noto, Modica, Ragusa & Avola in Sicily
2008		Mantua and Sabbioneta	Lombardy
1987		Piazza del Duomo, Pisa	Pisa in Tuscany
1997		Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)	Cinque Terre in Liguria
1997		Residences of the Royal House of Savoy	Turin in Piedmont
2008		Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes *	Lombardy
1979		Rock Drawings in Valcamonica	Lombardy
1997		Su Nuraxi di Barumini	Sardinia
2005		Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica	Sicily
1996		The Trulli of Alberobello	Bari
2009		The Dolomites	Lombardy & Alto Adige
1993		The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera	Matera in Basilicata
2004		Val d'Orcia	Tuscany
1987		Venice and its Lagoon	Venice
1999		Villa Adriana (Tivoli)	Lazio
2001		Villa d'Este, Tivoli	Lazio
1997		Villa Romana del Casale	Piazza Amerina in Sicily